The Bristol Tourer was a British civil utility

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

produced in the years following the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, using as much as possible from the design of the Bristol Fighter aircraft. Bristol Tourers were delivered with a variety of

engines An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

, subject to availability and customer desires; these included the

Rolls-Royce Falcon The Rolls-Royce Falcon is an aircraft engine, aero engine developed in 1915. It was a smaller version of the Rolls-Royce Eagle, a liquid-cooled V-12 of 867 Cubic inch, cu in (14.2 Litre, L) Engine displacement, capacity. Fitted to many British ...

Siddeley Puma The Siddeley Puma is a British aero engine developed towards the end of World War I and produced by Siddeley-Deasy. The first Puma engines left the production lines of Siddeley-Deasy in Coventry in August 1917, production continued until Decem ...

Hispano-Suiza 8 The Hispano-Suiza 8 is a Internal combustion engine cooling, water-cooled V8 engine, V8 SOHC aero engine introduced by Hispano-Suiza in 1914 that went on to become the most commonly used liquid-cooled engine in the aircraft of the Entente Powers ...

, and

Wolseley Viper The Wolseley Viper is a British-built, high-compression derivative of the Hispano Suiza HS-8 liquid-cooled V-8 engine, built under licence by Wolseley Motors during World War I. It powered later models of the S.E.5a, SPAD VII and other Brit ...

. Many Tourers were fitted with a

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an a ...

to cover the one or two passenger seats in the rear cockpit, giving the type its original name of Coupé. The pilot's

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, on the front part of an aircraft, spacecraft, or submersible, from which a pilot controls the vehicle. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls th ...

, however, remained open. Bristol Tourers operated by

Western Australian Airways West Australian Airways was an Australian airline based in Geraldton, Western Australia. Established by World War I pilot Norman Brearley on 5 December 1921 as ''Western Australian Airways'', it was the first airline in Australia to establish a ...

made the first scheduled

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

services in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, commencing on 4 December

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...

between

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

and

Geraldton Geraldton (Wajarri language, Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu language, Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West (Western Australia), Mid West region of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. As of the , Geraldt ...

Variants

;Type 27 :First Tourers for the British Controller of Civil Aviation, fitted with

engines and dual controls (3 built) ;Type 28 :Similar to Type 27 with canopy for rear seat ;Type 29 :

-engined version for Bristol as company transport (2 built) ;Type 45 "Scandinavian Tourer" :Similar to Type 29 with ski

undercarriage Undercarriage is the part of a moving vehicle that is underneath the main body of the vehicle. The term originally applied to this part of a horse-drawn carriage, and usage has since broadened to include: *The landing gear of an aircraft. *The ch ...

. ;Type 47 :Three-seat version with open rear cockpit. ;Type 48 :Similar to Type 47 but built as

floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...

. ;Type 81 "Puma Trainer" :Similar to Type 29 modified as trainer (1 converted, 4 newly built) ;Type 81A :Similar to Type 81 with revised undercarriage and

empennage The empennage ( or ), also known as the tail or tail assembly, is a structure at the rear of an aircraft that provides stability during flight, in a way similar to the feathers on an arrow.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third ed ...

for Greek military (6 built) ;Type 86 "Greek Tourer" :Similar to original Bristol Fighter and able to be armed for

Greek Air Force The Hellenic Air Force (HAF; , sometimes abbreviated as ΠΑ) is the air force of Greece (''Hellenic'' being the endonym for ''Greek'' in the Greek language). It is considered to be one of the largest air forces in NATO, and is globally placed 1 ...

(6 built) ;Type 86A :Three-seat version of Type 86. ;Type 88 "Bulgarian Tourer" :Powered by

for Bulgarian Post Office, two aircraft were delivered in April 1924. ;Type 88A "Improved Bulgarian Tourer" :With various modifications, three aircraft delivered in 1926.

Operators

; *

Bulgarian Air Force The Bulgarian Air Force () is one of the three branches of the Military of Bulgaria, the other two being the Bulgarian Navy and Bulgarian land forces. Its mission is to guard and protect the sovereignty of Bulgarian airspace, and jointly with ...

*Bulgarian Post Office ; *

Chilean Air Force The Chilean Air Force () is the air force of Chile and branch of the Chilean military. History The first step towards the current FACh is taken by Lieutenant Colonel, Teniente Coronel training as a pilot in France. Although a local academy was c ...

; *

Specifications (Type 28)

References

Citations

Bibliography